IPL 2017 | Uthappa and Gambhir end Pune’s three-game winning run

04/26/2017

Kolkata's Robin Uthappa (87) and Gautam Gambhir (62) made a mockery of RPS’s target of 183 as they rained fours and sixes at the visitors' arena and chased down the total with 11 balls to spare. Earlier, Steve Smith’s second fifty of the IPL had propelled Pune to a sub-par score of 182.

Brief Scores: Rising Pune Supergiant 182/5 (Steve Smith 51*, Ajinkya Rahane 46; Kuldeep Yadav 2/31, Umesh Yadav 1/28) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 184/3 (Robin Uthappa 87, Gautam Gambhir 62; Daniel Christian 1/31, Jaydev Unadkat 1/26) by 7 wickets.

Electing to chase after winning the toss, Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir announced that Darren Bravo and Piyush Chawla had been recalled to the team in place of Nathan Coulter-Nile and the out of form Suryakumar Yadav. Steve Smith, however, was forced into a change with Faf du Plessis receiving the nod ahead of the “sore” Ben Stokes.

Tripathi fires again to give Pune the perfect start

Rahul Tripathi continued his good form smashing Umesh Yadav for two boundaries in the latter’s second over after struggling to adjust to the pace in the first one. Rahane, too, was looking in good touch as he kept rotating the strike well before coming into his own by hitting Chris Woakes for a six down the ground. But it was the 26-year-old who took the initiative as he hit two identical boundaries, on either side of the square leg fielder Kuldeep Yadav, off the last two balls of the powerplay to take Pune to 57/0. But keeping with the trend of the tournament so far, it was a leg spinner who would get KKR their first breakthrough. An inside edge onto the stumps off a Piyush Chawla delivery proved to be Tripathi’s undoing. Despite the wicket, Steve Smith and Rahane ensured Pune reached the midway point of their innings with 83 runs on the board.

Smith, Christian rescue Pune after Uthappa’s stumping hattrick

Rahane and Smith started upping the tempo scoring at least a boundary an over to keep the scoreboard ticking, but it didn’t last long as the former was dismissed four runs short of his half-century after a brilliant stumping by Robin Uthappa. MS Dhoni, who walked in after Rahane, signalled his intent early hitting Chawla for a boundary and a six off consecutive deliveries. The Pune wicket-keeper raced to 23 off just 10 balls before he too was stumped by his Kolkata counterpart. Manoj Tiwary followed suit a couple of balls later as Pune appeared to be dwindling towards the end. However, Daniel Christian and Smith, who recorded his second half-century of the tournament, scored 30 runs off the last two overs to take the home side to a par score of 182 in their allotted overs.

Uthappa stars after Narine falters

As he has done time and again in the tournament so far, Sunil Narine got off the mark with a boundary on the second ball that he faced. The West Indian followed it up with a couple more off Shardul Thakur as KKR tried to assert themselves in the game. However, this time it wasn’t meant to be for the spinner as he was dismissed by a brilliant run out masterminded by Dhoni, leaving KKR at 21/1 after three overs. But the incoming Uthappa, along with Gambhir made sure that the run rate never went out of touching distance. Smith introduced the dangerous Imran Tahir into the attack and the decision almost paid instant dividends as Uthappa mistimed a ball straight at Unadkat. The 25-year-old, however, dropped a sitter and it proved to be a mistake that would come back to haunt the home side. The KKR keeper went on to score 33 runs off the next 11 balls to take the visitors to 101 after 10 overs.

KKR put Pune out of their misery

Pune appeared to be running out of ideas with Smith handing the ball to Tripathi for the first time in the tournament. After the experienced bowlers had failed, it seemed unlikely that a part-timer would get the home side the much-needed breakthrough. With both batsmen settled at the crease, KKR stepped up their game and started scoring at a rapid pace. Both players brought up their half-centuries, and with six overs to go brought the run rate to an even six. From that point onwards, there could be just one winner in the game. However, Uthappa and Gambhir were not able to see the game through as the duo were dismissed while attempting to end the game in a hurry. It was eventually Darren Bravo, playing his first game of the IPL, who slashed a Thakur delivery to the deep cover boundary to secure the win for his team and take the two-time champions to the top of the table.